Page 27 - Diva_3_2024_Irak Special_
P. 27

international                                          international
































 The Oldest Board Game – the Royal Game   Assyriologist at the British Museum, translated  But let’s now make a very brief excursion to the  The Royal

               a cuneiform script on a crumbling clay tablet.  city of Ur, the holy city, the source of law and  Game of Ur:
 of Ur – was it the first game of strategy?  The  document  sounded  remarkably  like  the  the site of wonder.  a two-player
               rules  of  an  ancient  game.  Scholars  tried  to
                                                                                             strategy race
               decipher the cuneiform over the years, but it  What is it Ur and where is it?   board game
 Our magazine is for diplomats, and there is an   into  clay  or  rock,  and  explorers  and  traders   was Dr. Finkel who was able to identify the  Ur is a biblical city, and is listed in the Bible
 opinion that the masterclasses in some games   introduced it to Iran, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon,   text  on  the  tablet  as  instructions  on  how  to  (Gen. 11:28-31) as the birthplace of Abraham,
 can contribute to the success of the profession.   Sri Lanka, Cyprus and Crete. Variations of the   play  the  Royal  Game  of  Ur  after  comparing  the ancestor of many religions, the father of
 Such as chess, which develops strategy, or poker   game have been found in King Tutankhamun’s   it to the other game boards the museum had  monotheism. In the Bible, the city is named
 which develops tactics, or even billiards. While   tomb, and etched into pillars in the palace of   stored in its archives.  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  The  generally  accepted
 the  diplomats  themselves  argue  what  game   the Assyrian king Sargon II. For at least 1,000   location  of  ancient  Ur  is  considered  to  be
 corresponds  better  to  master  their  strategic   years, the Royal Game of Ur was the national   The Babylonian tablet revealed that the game  the present-day area in southern Iraq, where
 thinking, it might happen that none of those, as   game of ancient Mesopotamia, but it waned   is  a  race  between  two  players  to  get  their  the ruins of this biblical city were found on
                                              B

 there exists a well forgotten another game – the   in popularity as other games were developed,   markers  around  and  off  the  board. Besidesesides  a rounded hill called Tell el-Muqayyar, which
 Royal Game of Ur, which might well be the best   including those that most likely evolved from   all practical aspects, it was believed that the  means  Clay  Hill  in  Arabic.  In  the  ancient
 game  to  master  the  strongest  strategist  skills.   it,  such  as  backgammon.  Mentions  of  the   game and its result is supposed to tell a player’s  times the city was situated in the bed of the
 Read our story below:  game  disappeared  in  the  Middle  Ages,  but   fortune.  According  to  the  cuneiform  tablet,  River Euphrates.
 a  variation,  called  Aasha,  was  played  by  the   some of the marked squares on the board were
 The oldest strategic game  Jewish people of Kochi, in India. The Jews of   assigned signs of the zodiac and, with them,  As  to  the  meaning  of  the  name  Ur,  science
 The  original  name  of  this  ancient  game  has   Kochi had migrated from ancient Babylonia   the predictions came.  does not have a clear answer. Some scientists
 been lost to time, but it was dubbed the Royal   and brought a version of the game with them.   believe that it comes from the Sumerian word
 Game  of  Ur  after  a  British  archaeologist   The 1928 discovery of the Royal Game of Ur   The  tablet  explained  that  the  pyramid-  “Uru” - city, cuneiform experts decipher it as
 named  Sir  Leonard  Woolley  uncovered  five   gave  scholars  an  important  cultural  glimpse   shaped  dice  were  used  to  indicate  the  “the place where the light lives”.
 worn  playing  boards  in  1928  at  the  Royal   into  ancient  Mesopotamians  life.  Although,   number of squares a player could move, but
 Cemetery of the Sumerian city of Ur. Analysts   there was no clear manual and even today it   to win strategy and tactics were needed. If a  The City of Ur- the city State
 estimated  that  the  highly  decorated  boards,   remains a mystery how the game worked.   player  lands  on  a  square  occupied  by  their  Ur was one of the cities in the settlement system
 made  of  wood,  inlaid  shell  and  lapis  lazuli,   opponent,  they  can  knock  that  marker  off,  founded  by  the  Ubaid  culture  in  southern
 were made between 2,600-2,400 B.C., making   Rules of the Game: from mysticism   and the opponent must start over again with  Mesopotamia. Beginning from a village based
 the  Royal  Game  of  Ur  the  oldest  complete   to strategy and tactics   that  piece.  That  can  set  a  player  back,  and  on  the  exploitation  of  marsh  resources  and
 tabletop game ever discovered. Archaeological   Written  in  177-176  B.C.  by  a  scribe  named   it  is  almost  impossible  to  predict  who  will  fishing,  by  4000  BCE,  Ur’s  inhabitants  were
 evidence suggests that the game (which is also   Itti-Marduk-balatu, the tablet was discovered   win, even near the end of the game. Indeed,  raising cattle, goats and sheep, and cultivating
 called the Game of 20 Squares) was immensely   around  1880  in  the  ruins  of  Babylon.  Later   it  required  a  refined  strategy,  tactics  and  wheat, barley and dates. The city’s inhabitants
 popular, the boards were carried all over the   on, it was brought to the British Museum, and   calculation  to  correctly  foresee  all  steps  to  maintained an extensive system of canals, on
 Middle  East  —  and  sometimes  scratched   in the 1980s, Dr. Irving Finkel, a curator and   win. Is it the same in the real-life diplomacy?  the average two miles long, and used boats for



     w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h  w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h
   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32